RAVENS. 223 



found him pursuing his cautious predatory life, just 

 as in England. 



With us, he may be called the herald of the year; 

 for as early as the latter end of January, if the 

 weather be mild, or at all events in the beginning of 

 February, some faithful pair, (for the union of the 

 male and female is for life,) may be seen looking 

 into the state of their nursery-tenement, usually con- 

 structed on the upper and most inaccessible branching 

 fork of some high tree, where they have been known 

 to build beyond the memory of the most ancient 

 chronicler of the parish. Probably most of our 

 readers have, if not within their own precincts, at 

 least within their knowledge, a venerable establish- 

 ment of this description. Ours is a noble beech, 

 about ninety feet in height, in the centre of a 

 beautiful wood, from time immemorial called the 

 Raven tree. At one extremity of this wood, a noisy 

 troop of Jackdaws have long been accustomed to 

 rear their progeny unmolested, provided they ven- 

 ture not too near the sacred tree of the Ravens, 

 in which case, one or other of the old birds dashes 

 upon the intruder, and the wood is in an uproar, 

 till the incautious bird is driven off. Few have 

 dared to scale the height of this famed tree ; but 

 the names of one or two individuals are on record, 

 who have accomplished the perilous undertaking, 

 and carried off the contents of the nest. 



Some years ago, the wife of a neighbouring farmer 

 made such loud complaints, on the diminution of a 

 fine brood of young turkies, which occasionally 

 wandered from her farm-yard, into some fields ad- 

 jacent to the wood, that one of the old ones was 



